Sunday, September 11, 2005

Los Angeles, CA. Was it legal for the Los Angeles Unified School District to issue $1 Billion plus in non-voter approved bonds in semi-secret meetings over the past several years? And, who advised them to do so? Did anyone challenge the LAUSD actions? The answer to these and many other questions is included in a two-part, one-hour interview by Full Disclosure™ host Leslie Dutton, to be featured on 40 cable systems and on the internet via streaming media beginning Monday, September 12, 2005.

The Full Disclosure Network™ will video stream a four and a half minute (4:30) video preview on the www.fulldisclosure.net website containing comments from David Tokofsky on the following :

Declining enrollment in the LAUSD is merely a temporary phenomenon and illegal immigration is a factor to be considered when planning the cost of running and building schools .

LAUSD regularly issues non-voter approved, tax-exempt bonds, known as Certificates of Participation (COPs) even though Proposition 13 mandated a vote of the people on public indebtedness.

The controversial and obscure process of how the Board of Education issues tax-exempt bonds was a advised by LAUSD legal counsel and the District’s bond counsel (who charges a fee on bond transactions).

LAUSD has never been faced with a legal challenge on any of the non-voter approved COP bond issuances

Nor have the transactions been challenged by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which supports Proposition 13.

According to L.A. County Office of Education and LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax the school district has up to $1 Billion in outstanding COPs. A fact, of which the public is generally unaware and will have to be repaid from the General Fund.

For the past two years Full Disclosure Network™ has produced a number of hour-long interviews with the key leaders involved in the Los Angeles Unified School District development, financing, planning, including the controversial Belmont Learning Center Complex. A complete listing of channels and airtimes can be found on our website at: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Channels/channelsINDEX.htm